Hello All!

So I, of course, took tons of pictures over the weekend. Here's a sample:

We start with a picture of Dog Days when I went to pick Murphy up at the end of the workday on Friday. It looks to me like all these dogs know that it's time to head home - they were all patiently waiting, watching cars come and go! Murphy is on the left hand side, next to the white American Eskimo Dog. Incidentally, that's the kind of dog that Allie is now thinking she will get when she has a more dog-friendly lifestyle.

Here we have a puzzle piece that I fished out of Murphy's mouth, just before he swallowed it. Now, you're probably thinking; "Meghan! How could you be so careless as to let puzzle pieces fall on the floor? Murphy might come upon it, eat it, and choke on it!". Well, this would be my answer to you; "Murphy climbed up onto his hind legs, got his nose up onto the table, at which point he picked out the most delectable of puzzle pieces, and started eating.". This is one of a good half dozen pieces I had to extract from his mouth. Needless to say, Murphy is now not allowed into any room with a puzzle in it.

Murphy and I have been working on a new trick; "Spin". It was hard to capture this trick on film, especially due to the lag time on the shutter of my camera. Here you can see how I started teaching him this trick by holding a treat in my hand, so that Murphy would follow it in a circle. We've gotten to the point that I can just bend slightly and move my hand, without a treat, in a circle above his head.

Notice what's on the TV in the background...curling! So for all you non-Canadians out there, you can see that we do truly watch this sport, and not just when it's at the Olympics.

Now here's a glimpse into what it's like to have a cocker in your kitchen:

He's constantly counter surfing, and with his long tongue he can reach back about half way. In the second picture he has some potato on his nose. I believe that he was given some potato, so I don't think this shot is evidence of any kitchen crime he might have committed...though we shouldn't rule that out.

And here's what grooming time around here looks like:

Where Murphy is standing was supposed to be extra counter space for use in the kitchen. Now it's either covered in clutter or being used as a grooming table. Ann Jackson, our trainer, suggested buying a rubber bath mat to keep Murphy from slipping on the smooth surface. As you can see, Murphy doesn't mind grooming at all, though we have been arguing a bit lately, mainly due to all the mats that he develops over a 24 hour period. I'm using conditioner and detangling spray on him, yet he still mats if he goes without a brushing for even 24 hours! Needless to say, Murphy isn't fond of being "de-matted". But as you can see he gets lots of hugs and kisses while being groomed, and sometimes treats too, so he's pretty good about it.

I'd also like to point out that I am not, in fact, pregnant. In the top left hand picture I'm leaning against the counter, with my back all swayed out, so I look either pregnant, or obese,,,depending on your interpretation. Not pregnant, not obese, just have a very bad sway back!

Back to our topic...Murphy also enjoys it when others come by while he's being groomed, like here where Allie is giving him a bit of a scratch. Makes for a nice rest break for him during his groom, which can take up to 45 minutes. At any rate, all round Murphy is a good sport about grooming.

The last step of our grooming is Murphy's tooth brushing time. I had assumed that this would be a struggle with him, but since I started doing this when he was only like 3 months old, he accepts it fully. Takes less than 10 minutes to go over all his teeth, and he never has bad doggie breath!

Murphy got a new rope toy this weekend, in fact we picked it up, plus some healthy treats, at the half way point of our Saturday walk. We walked all through Inter River Park, then nipped over to Park and Tilford Shopping Plaza, where we browsed and picked up his goodies. He also tried to sample the bulk treats, which are stupidly kept in bins ON THE FLOOR, right at dog level! But I managed to fish them all out of his mouth. The food was then inedible for any other dog, but at least he didn't get the satisfaction of eating stolen goods.

Above right we have what Murphy thinks is the point of a rope toy: edible snack. See how he has a whole chunk of the rope coming out of his mouth? He grabs a bunch of the rope, then strips out strings in smaller chunks, pausing periodically to chew and swallow them. So, whenever he is playing with his rope toy I have to sit right next to him, fishing out any string whenever I hear the tell-tale smacking of his lips. So rope toy gets limited use.

We headed out for an "Animal Fair" on Sunday, which turned out to be just a couple of tents set up in the pouring rain. Allie was hoping to talk to someone about the new municipal pound here, which the city just took over from the SPCA. Big scandal here about whether or not the SPCA is actually helping any animals, so the city stepped in and took the pound away from them. At any rate, Allie is looking to volunteer as a dog walker, but we didn't see anyone there from the pound! Very disappointing. So we were only out there briefly, since it was raining so hard. It would have been a perfect day to try out Murph's new rain suit, but the alterations haven't quite been finished yet. We did see a Dobie in a rain suit, so I feel better about dressing him up, as bigger, tougher dogs seem to prefer to stay dry too!

Incidentally, the bridge who's bottom you can see above my head in the above shot is the Trans-Canada Highway. For you non-Canadians out there, the Trans-Canada is a thousands of miles long road that goes completely across the country. Anytime you drive from province to province, that's usually what you take.

Above is one of Murphy's favourite things about rainy days; towels! It can be oh *so* much fun attempting to dry a dog who is attempting to consume an entire towel.

Finally we have Murphy's new pillow. I compromised with Murphy and took the pillows that he likes to sleep on on my bed, off my bed, and put them into his crate. So at least he still gets to sleep on his favourite pillows, even if it's not while laying on my bed. But Allie pointed out that he might like more manly pillows than the mauve check ones he's been sleeping on. So I went out to Zellers the other day and bought him some Martha Stewart pillow shams in a more masculine pattern.

I couldn't believe my luck when I found, with very little searching, a nice stripe with colours that go very well with my duvet cover. I think they are quite manly! And Murphy liked them too, as you can see by how he clambered right up onto the pillow. Right now he's sleeping on different pillows while I sleep on his new ones for a bit, to make sure that the new shams smell just like the old ones.

So that's a weekend in Murphy's life! Tonight we have our last advanced beginner's obedience class, though, as I said earlier, I think we'll sign up for the class again since we came in 2/3 of the way through.

Oh, and you'll all be *thrilled* to know that I bought a picture card for my camera, so I can take up to 392 pictures on it. You think this update with 18 pictures on it was excessive? Just you wait!

Email me!

Meghan

Here's the link to the next update: March 22, 2002
Here's the link to the previous update: March 7, 2002

Home | Latest news | From the beginning | Origins | What kind of dog is that? | Colours of cockers | Cocker links